NNET Procedure

MITIGATEBIAS Statement

  • MITIGATEBIAS SENSITIVEVAR=variable PREDICTEDVARS=(variable-names) PREDICTEDEVENTS="event-list"  <options>;

The MITIGATEBIAS statement enables PROC NNET to iteratively train a model while minimizing the bias metric that you specify. To use this statement, you must also specify the SAVESTATE statement and a categorical response (target) variable. You cannot also specify the AUTOTUNE statement or the CROSSVALIDATION statement.

You must specify the following options:

PREDICTEDEVENTS="event-list"
PEVENTS="event-list"

specifies the events that correspond to each variable in the PREDICTEDVARS= option. You must specify the PREDICTEDEVENTS= and PREDICTEDVARS= options with the same number of items in the same order. Items in the event-list must be separated by the delimiter that you specify in the DELIMETER= option.

PREDICTEDVARS=(variable-names)
PVARS=(variable-names)

specifies the names of the variables that contain the posterior probability for each level in model prediction that corresponds to the response (target) variable. You must specify the PREDICTEDVARS= and PREDICTEDEVENTS= options with the same number of items in the same order. Duplicate variables are not allowed.

SENSITIVEVAR=variable

specifies the sensitive variable to use in order to reduce the value of the bias measurement that you specify in the BIASMETRIC= option.

You can also specify the following options:

BIASMETRIC=bias-metric

specifies the type of bias measurement. You can specify the following bias-metrics:

DEMOGRAPHICPARITY

specifies demographic parity as the bias measurement.

EQUALIZEDODDS

specifies equalized odds as the bias measurement.

EQUALOPPORTUNITY

specifies equal opportunity as the bias measurement.

PREDICTIVEPARITY

specifies predictive parity as the bias measurement.

By default, BIASMETRIC=DEMOGRAPHICPARITY.

BOUND=number

specifies the bound value for the exponentiated gradient reduction algorithm.

By default, BOUND=100.

DELIMITER="character"
DLM="character"

specifies the delimiter to be used to separate events that you specify in the PREDICTEDEVENTS= option. A delimiter is used when event names contain embedded spaces (such as "Fuel Oil") or special characters (such as ";" or "*"). You must use quotation marks around character. You can specify only one delimiter; combinations of delimiters are not supported. The valid values of the DELIMITER= option are " " (space), ";" (semicolon), "*" (asterisk), "." (period), and "," (comma).

By default, DELIMITER=" " (space).

If you specify a delimiter other than " " (space), PROC NNET treats any spaces (including empty spaces) as valid characters. You are responsible for mapping events correctly in order to obtain correct results.

LEARNINGRATE=number

specifies the step size to use in updating the exponentiated gradient reduction algorithm.

By default, LEARNINGRATE=0.01.

LOGLEVEL=0 | 1 | 2

specifies the level of log information to print.

0

prints only warnings and errors.

1

prints some notes.

2

prints notes for each iteration.

By default, LOGLEVEL=1.

MAXITER=number

specifies the maximum number of iterations to run the exponentiated gradient reduction algorithm.

By default, MAXITER=10.

SEED=number

specifies the seed for the pseudorandom number generator. By default, the random number stream is based on the time of day from the computer’s clock. A 0 or negative seed value also results in random number streams that are based on the time of day from the computer’s clock. If you want a reproducible random number sequence between runs, specify a value greater than 0.

By default, SEED=0.

TARGETEVENT="event"

specifies the formatted value of the response (target) variable that represents the event of interest.

By default, event is the first level that you specify in the PREDICTEDEVENTS= option.

TOLERANCE=number

specifies the parity constraint violation tolerance. If you set number to 0, PROC NNET trains for the maximum number of iterations, which you specify in the MAXITER= option.

By default, TOLERANCE=0.005.

TUNEBOUND

specifies that the bound value must be tuned.

Last updated: August 06, 2026